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Stark racial and ethnic disparities in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADRD) have been documented, largely attributable to the impact of social and structural drivers of health. The structural drivers of health include the institutions, practices, cultural norms, and policies that dictate the inequitable distribution of the social determinants of health (SDoH), defined as the conditions where people live, work, play, and age, and consist of various forms of systemic oppression including structural racism. The overlapping effects of race and place on health have been studied extensively, with an increased focus on the operationalization and measurement of “place-effects” on health through neighborhood characteristics and the built environment. Previous studies have demonstrated associations of place-based SDoH with cardiometabolic health and cognition. However, research studying the relationship of place-based SDoH with ADRD-associated neuroimaging and plasma biomarkers is still limited.

Biomarkers serve as proxies for underlying pathological changes and can play a crucial role in the detection of etiology underlying cognitive decline and ADRD. More specifically, neuroimaging biomarkers of brain structure and function, assessed using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), are helpful in the early detection of disease processes and prognosis for progression. Additionally, numerous blood-based biomarkers have recently emerged as candidates for improved diagnosis and management of ADRD, along with a demonstrated need to examine varying SDoH profiles in correlation with these biomarkers due to observed differences in biomarker levels by medical comorbidities. Plasma biomarkers have been associated with brain health differences assessed with neuroimaging, most notably with lower total gray matter brain volume and higher amyloid deposition. Importantly, abnormal plasma amyloid β 42/40 ratio helps in identifying those with higher dementia risk, while phosphorylated-Tau 181 has been shown to increase with clinical severity of AD.

https://archive.ph/wip/7kgpn

Oct. 31, 2025, 5:02 a.m. ET Michelle Goldberg

Andy O’Brien, a former Democratic state legislator and newspaper editor, told me that outsiders didn’t fully understand how radicalizing the second Trump presidency has been for ordinary Democrats. Even senior citizens, he said, were becoming “fire-breathing leftists. They’re just pissed off.”

These voters understood that Platner had made mistakes, but they saw him as a fighter. “Five years ago, he would have been dead in the water, I think,” said O’Brien, who now works with the labor movement. “But this is such an unprecedented time. I think a lot of people really believe that we need somebody who can effectively fight against fascism.”

Maine is an overwhelmingly white state, but it’s not just white guys who feel this way. “We’re sticking by him,” said Safiya Khalid, a Somali American activist and former member of the Lewiston City Council.

What could be the best way to introduce the world of computers to a kid, let's say of 6 years old, so that he learns to handle it like a toy and stops dreading it like some esoteric, arcane and recondite machine from some eldritch, enigmatic, cryptic and phantasmal world ?

OQB @TheracAriane@thebrainbin.org

After “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” which counts Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara as executive producers, received a nearly 23-minute standing ovation at its Venice Film Festival premiere in September, filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania took a slew of meetings with potential North American distributors.

Executives praised the film, which follows the Palestine Red Crescent Society’s failed attempt to save Hind, a Palestinian child who was killed in Gaza in 2024 after being trapped in a car under Israeli fire.

But not a single major studio or streamer made an offer on the movie, the official Oscar submission of the Tunisian Culture Ministry, Ben Hania said.

“People never say, ‘I’m afraid to pick up a movie,’” Ben Hania said. “Maybe they are. I don’t know. They can’t openly talk about it, because it’s a shame to be afraid of talking about the killing of a child.”

Even fast-casual dining may be too much of a financial burden for younger generations.

Chipotle CEO Scott Boatwright said young diners between the ages of 25 and 35 are cutting back on dining at the Mexican-inspired fast-casual chain. But these millennial and Gen Z customers are not snubbing Chipotle for other fast food spots; they’ve stopped dining out as frequently altogether.

“This group is facing several headwinds, including unemployment, increased student loan repayment, and slower real wage growth,” Boatwright told investors at the company’s earnings presentation on Wednesday. “We’re not losing them to the competition. We’re losing them to grocery and food at home.”

Chemists from the University of Warwick and Monash University have discovered a powerful new antibiotic called pre-methylenomycin C lactone, found as an intermediate compound in the production of methylenomycin A[^1]. This molecule shows remarkable potency against drug-resistant bacteria, demonstrating over 100 times greater activity against Gram-positive pathogens compared to methylenomycin A[^2].

The compound proves particularly effective against Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE), with no observed resistance development in Enterococcus faecium under conditions where vancomycin resistance typically emerges[^1].

"Methylenomycin A was originally discovered 50 years ago and while it has been synthesized several times, no-one appears to have tested the synthetic intermediates for antimicrobial activity!" said Professor Greg Challis[^2]. The team identified the compound by deleting specific genes in Streptomyces coelicolor, a well-studied soil bacterium[^1].

The researchers have developed a scalable synthetic route for producing pre-methylenomycin C lactone, positioning it for further development as a potential treatment against antimicrobial-resistant infections[^1].

[^1]: Medical Dialogues - Scientists discover hidden antibiotic 100 times stronger against superbugs

[^2]: University of Warwick - New antibiotic for drug-resistant bacteria found hiding in plain sight